How the Coast Geological Society Began

On April 2, 1948 an informal dinner meeting was held at Eaton's Restaurant in Santa Barbara. R.N. Williams, Honolulu Oil Corporation presided and the speaker for the evening was W. H. (Bill) Geis, Consultant and member of the State Board for Registration of Engineers. Mr. Geis spoke on The Position of the Geologist in Connection with the Engineer's Registration Act.

A committee of four was appointed to work out the details of organizing a geological society within the coastal area. This committee consisted of R. N. Williams, Honolulu Oil Corp., Santa Barbara; Aden W. Hughes, Union Oil Co., Santa Maria; William R. Merrill, Standard Oil Co., Ventura; and Robert Pasehali, Amerada, Ventura (Chairman).

The Committee of Four met on May 12, 1948 and set the following Operational Rules for a geologic society in the coastal area. Some of the rules are as follows:

The society shall be known as the Coast Geological Society.

Meetings shall be held on the second Monday of every other month beginning in June 1948.

All regular meetings will be dinner meetings unless otherwise specified and will be held at Easton's Restaurant in Santa Barbara.

In lieu of a formal panel of officers, a committee of four will handle the operational details of the Society.

The above committee shall consist of one member each from the Santa Maria, Santa Barbara and Ventura areas and a chairman from any one of the three areas.

The chairman of the committee shall resign at the beginning of each calendar year and a new chairman shall be selected from one of the three active members of the committee.

The Society will affiliate with the Pacific Section of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, but membership in either the Pacific Section or the parent organization shall not be a requisite for membership in the Coast Geological Society.

Programs for the meetings of the Society shall insofar as is possible, consist of three papers or their equivalent. The papers shall cover (1) a geological topic, (2) some engineering aspect of the oil industry and (3) a topic of general interest. Deviation from this plan shall be at the discretion of the committee.

On June 14, 1948 the first meeting of the Coast Geological Society was held in the Fremont Room of Eaton's Restaurant in Santa Barbara. Fifty members were in attendance to hear the following speakers:

Ventura County's Water Problems, Robert Ryan, Ventura County Engineer;

At the April 1949 meeting, a motion to elect rather than appoint committee members was passed. At the August 1949 meeting the first By-Laws for the Society were adopted. The By-­Laws stated:

"The aim of the Society shall be to promote interest in problems involving geological work in the California coastal area."

Officers and the duties of the Executive Committee were explained. In October 1949 the first elected officers were installed: Lowell Redwine, President; Irv Schwade, Vice President; Dick Haine, Secretary; and Bill Thomas, Treasurer.